Electroforming is a type of electroplating technique and enables manufacturing (replication) of a metal product (electroformed component) having a shape and surface irregularities of a model reproduced by electrodepositing electrolyzed metal and ions on a surface of the model. In such electroforming, a component with a high transfer property may be manufactured using an electroforming mold processed with precision. The manufacture a precision component of a timepiece, etc. using an electroforming mold manufactured by photolithography using a photosensitive material as in a silicon process with a lithographie galvanoformung abformung (LIGA) technique has been proposed recently.
For example, in a conventional technique, an opening pattern is formed using photoresist on a substrate conductive on one surface and, after a step of forming a metal layer by electroforming in the opening is executed twice, the substrate and the lower metal layer are removed to obtain an electroformed body having an uneven surface differing in surface form according to the upper metal layer (see, for example, Patent Document 1).
In another conventional technique, for example, by repeating a step of forming a metal constituent component layer by electroforming on a resin mold formed by lithography on a conductive substrate and then planarizing the layer by polishing or grinding multiple times, a stepped three-dimensional fine structure is manufactured (see, for example, Patent Document 2).
Patent Document 1: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2011-89169
Patent Document 2: Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2008-126375